After hearing the news of his father’s death, Bharat Ram (Mahesh Babu), a young student in London, comes down to Hyderabad. The onus of taking the chair of his deceased father falls upon Bharat Ram. Bharat Ram, who believes in values and fulfilling the promises made, sits in the chair of Chief Minister, his father’s seat and brings new age governance. He also falls for the charms of Vasumati (Kiara Advani) who works in his office. This romantic affair leads to political embarrassment for the young CM as wily Varadarajulu (Prakash Raj) conspires to unseat him. What obstacles Bharat has to face in his political journey is the rest of the story.

Analysis

Not many political dramas were made in the recent past in Tollywood. Sekhar Kammula’s ‘Leader’ was the most recent prominent political drama. One can see shades of ‘Leader’ in basic plot of Koratala Siva’s ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’ though both tread different paths. Like in Shankar’s iconic hit ‘Oke Okkadu’, the protagonist of Koratala Siva’s ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’ is young and dynamic CM who brings novel methods in governance, who truly lives by the people, for the people. The protagonist here is Oxford educated (five degrees under his belt). He brings western style of governance (on the very first day he brings traffic under control in Hyderabad).

It is not the story but the packaging is what matters is the belief of Koratala. None of his movies had different story or screenplay, but he narrated them in arresting manner which worked big at box-office. Unlike other “commercial movie” directors, he doesn’t resort to comedy tracks and sticks to the main story by elevating heroism at regular intervals. He also cleverly uses English sentences in dialogues for dramatic effect. His trademark style of dialogue writing has worked well in this political drama as well.

“Bharat Ane Nenu” begins on dull note but it picks up the momentum only when Bharat Ram takes charge as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Koratala cleverly mixes entertaining romantic track and hero’s elevating scenes in the capacity of a Chief Minister. He uses humor in assembly sequences and in romantic thread.

The basic story written by Srihari Nani also reminds us of two Hollywood classics – ‘Mr. Smith Goes To Washington’ (hero becoming CM after the death of his father) and ‘The American President’ (love scandal and other aspects). However, the narration and the episodes that Koratala has come up with are unique in his own way. The strength of Koratala is elevating the heroism with stylish dialogues and packaging action stunts in more chic way. Interestingly, there are no fights till the interval, yet he elevates heroism. He has reserved them for second half.

Two sequences in the second half are clap worthy 1) when hero goes to a MLA’s defunct movie theatre to show him that he is also a muscle man 2) hero giving heartfelt message to the media after an incident. Mahesh Babu’s great performance can be seen in ‘press meet’ sequence.

Both these episodes happen in the second half. Apart from these two sequences, many of the situations are too predictable and it also ends in expected manner. The protagonist is named Bharat as legend is that Bharatudi rule is the most ideal one. There are also subtle satires like education minister having private schools (a satire on a minister in current AP's cabinet).

There are many loopholes in the story part. We are told that the film is set before AP was divided into two states but side actors talk about ‘metro in Hyderabad’ and other issues that pertaining to divided state.There is glaring flaw in the scene of love scandal. The love relationship is not at all 'illicit' affair. Then why so much fuss? This is so silly and illogical.

A great man said that leadership means creating a society that doesn’t require leaders, says Mahesh Babu in the film. The film’s basic line is this but the movie ending is quite contrary to the theme.

Mahesh Babu in the role of Chief Minister looks quite charismatic. The press meet episode showcases his great performance. This ranks among one of his best performances. The film completely belongs to Mahesh Babu. It is his show all the way.

Sharat Kumar as Mahesh Babu’s father and Aaamani as his mother do a cameo. Prakash Raj as the main villain and corrupt political leader does justice to the role to the T. Debutante Kiara Advani as Vasumathi looks beautiful and also comes up with decent acting. Rao Ramesh as Vasumathi’s father is okay. Posani as Minister and Brahamji as Personal Secretary provide some good laughs.

Music of the film is good. Devi Sri Prasad has given couple of catchy songs which are shot well. He has elevated the emotional scenes with his excellent background score. Cinematography is rich and uber cool. Renowned cinematographer Ravi K Chandran and Thiru both have created mood with warm colors. Production design and production values are rich and perfect.

As a writer and director, Siva Koratala once again proves that he packages differently within commercial format. His dialogue writing and coming up with sequences that elevate heroism to the core are his strength and he best utilizes them here. But he is not moving beyond a point, his narrations have become one-dimensional too.

Bottom-line: Director Koratala Siva's 'Bharat Ane Nenu' is engaging political drama. It focuses on the core theme without deviating from it. Mahesh Babu's brilliant performance and Siva's narration holds the interest despite some slack and many predictable scenes.